A California eviction notice is a written notice a landlord serves on a tenant to end a tenancy for nonpayment of rent, a lease violation, or without cause, before filing an eviction case in court. Download a free California eviction notice template below and fill it out for your situation.
Last Updated: September 2026. This guide is reviewed and updated regularly to reflect current California law. If you notice an error or outdated information, please contact us.
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Yes. California law lets a landlord serve a tenant with a three-day written notice to pay overdue rent or move out, or a three-day notice to fix a lease violation or move out. The notice must state the amount due and how to pay it. Within the same three days, excluding Saturdays, Sundays, and judicial holidays, the tenant may perform the lease conditions or pay the amount due to save the lease from forfeiture.[2]
A California tenant who, or whose household member or immediate family member, was the victim of domestic violence, sexual assault, stalking, or certain other crimes may also give written notice to end the lease early (Civil Code Section 1946.7).[3]
Most cases when an eviction notice occurs in California are the following:
This document goes by several names, including a notice to quit and a notice to vacate. They all refer to the same document that starts the eviction process.
How much notice each side must give depends on the type of notice being used. California recognizes six types of eviction notice template, each covered below.
California's eviction rules for landlords and tenants appear mainly in the Code of Civil Procedure, Chapter 4, and in the Civil Code's provisions on real property leasing. These statutes set the notice periods, the cure windows, and the limits on what a landlord may do before and during the court process.[2]
| Rent Grace Period | As stated in the lease |
| Notice of Non-Payment | 3 days |
| Notice of Non-Compliance | 3 days |
| State Laws | California Code of Civil Procedure, Sections 1161 to 1161b[2] |
State law also limits how a landlord may deliver these notices. A landlord or its agent cannot charge the tenant a fee for serving, posting, or delivering any eviction notice. When a subtenant is actually living in the unit, the landlord must serve the notice on that subtenant too.[2]
California recognizes several types of eviction notice, each tied to a different situation: nonpayment of rent, a lease violation, a nuisance or illegal use of the property, or ending a tenancy without cause. The notice a landlord must use depends on the reason the tenancy is ending.
Evicting a tenant in California means serving the correct written notice, then filing an eviction case in court if the tenant does not comply. A landlord cannot remove a tenant or the tenant’s belongings without a court order and a sheriff to carry it out.[1]
Landlords cannot use self-help to remove a tenant. California law prohibits changing the locks or otherwise preventing the tenant from gaining reasonable access to the property, removing outside doors or windows, or removing the tenant’s personal property or furnishings to end a tenancy outside this court process.[1]
An eviction that goes to court in California involves several standard Judicial Council forms, from the initial summons and complaint through the final writ of possession. The forms below are the ones most commonly used in an eviction case.
It is a form that notifies about the beginning of the legal case.
A document that includes full details and reasons why the eviction should occur.
This paper goes together with a complaint. Public authorities in California use it to include your case in official statistics in California.
A tenant may respond with this document when he or she receives the notice from an owner.
This paper should be filled out when a complaint and summons are delivered to a renter. A clerk of the court should receive a copy, too.
A form that a landlord provides to a sheriff to complete an eviction process.
An application to court when all required forms for the setting of the case were submitted.
A document that states the result of a court process.
To evict a tenant in California, a landlord must first serve the correct written notice: three days for unpaid rent or a lease violation, or a notice under the Civil Code to end a month-to-month tenancy without cause.[2] If the tenant does not comply, the landlord then files an eviction case in court and cannot remove the tenant without a court order.[1]
General information, not legal or tax advice.
Unless noted otherwise, the sources below are from the California Civil Code and Code of Civil Procedure, published by the California Legislative Information.
